294 



EGYPT. 



the Suakin district. He aggravated the situa- 

 tion by encouraging and subsidizing predatory 

 raids against hostile tribes and sending piratical 

 expeditions down the coast. The naval force 

 was employed in maintaining the trade block- 

 ade. Several vessels were captured when 

 landing goods. Permission was given in De- 

 cember, 1887, to the friendly inhabitants of 

 Agig to trade with foreign merchants under 

 stringent restrictions and Government super- 

 vision ; but the Governor was soon afterward 

 displaced and a personal enemy of Osman 

 Digma appointed, which led to the blockade 

 of the roads by the latter. Ool. Kitchener's 

 policy of denying trade, wMch was generally 

 condemned in England and finally resulted in 

 his transfer to the appointment of Adjutant- 

 General of the Egyptian Army, was adopted 

 for the purpose of coercing the Mahdists to 

 remove their own fanatical inhibition of com- 

 merce with infidels. The export of gum ara- 

 bic from Suakin in 1879 amounted to 207,084 

 Egyptian pounds, and coffee from Abyssinia 

 and ivory were exported to the amount of 

 20,000 Egyptian pounds each. The Mahdi 

 prohibited the gathering of the gum of Kordo- 

 fan, and for five years there has been little 

 trade with the interior. The Mandist govern- 

 ment is based on ascetic religious principles, 

 and, where the authority of the Khalifa is su- 

 preme, the possession of riches is discouraged, 

 half of each man's property is counted as be- 

 longing to state, and enjoyment of luxuries or 

 display of wealth is treated as a crime. The 

 coast Arabs, on the other hand, are eager 

 traders, and, by holding out the promise of 

 trade as a reward, the Governor-General ex- 

 pected to gain their loyalty and the sooner 

 open up the trade in gum and other valuable 

 products of the Soudan; but, instead of that, 

 he only brought back the miseries of war and 

 stimulated the clandestine exchange of slaves 

 for arms and ammunition. His troublesome 

 restrictions and irritating policy sent many 

 recruits to Osman Digma's banner even from 

 the friendly Amhara tribes. The English offi- 

 cers affect a stringent military regime because 

 they hope thereby to succeed to the authority 

 of the Mahdi throughout the Soudan. The 

 power exercised by the Khalifa over the re- 

 motest tribes of the desert is attributed to the 

 fear of the black regiments that were enrolled 

 and drilled by Gordon Pasha and of the Bag- 

 garas and other fierce tribes from beyond the 

 Nile and also to the exaction of hostages. 



The rebel forces that laid close siege to the 

 town in September were those commanded by 

 Abu Girgeh. Shells were cast within the 

 Water Fort every night, and some burst in the 

 town. On October 30 the enemy attempted 

 to storm that fort, but were driven back by a 

 heavy fire from the guns of the forts and ships. 

 Gen. Grenfell, the commander-in-ehief, arrived 

 in the beginning of November with re-enforce- 

 ments. On the 8th he led out the mounted 

 infantry and horse artillery and made an un- 



successful attempt to enfilade the enemy's 

 trenches. As the result of this reconnoissance 

 he returned to Cairo to dispatch re-enforce- 

 ments, for he found the enemy strongly in- 

 trenched and well supplied with cavalry, infan- 

 try, and six rifled guns firing Armstrong shells, 

 which were served with remarkable skill. 



The military situation on the Nile was equal- 

 ly critical. The Egyptian garrisons were re- 

 enforced ; but the raids of the enemy grew 

 bolder and more frequent, and in the begin- 

 ning of November their commander at Dongo- 

 la, Walad-el-Njumi, was engaged in collecting 

 an army for the invasion of Upper Egypt. The 

 Egyptian Government decided to increase the 

 army by 2,000 men, costing 51.000 per annum. 



The Equatorial Provinces. The position of 

 Emin Pasha at Wadelai after the abandonment 

 of the Soudan was entirely analogous to that 

 of Gen. Gordon at Khartoum, and Emin, who 

 had been made Governor of the Equatorial 

 Provinces by Gordon, was as determined aa 

 his chief to maintain the government that he 

 had established, although retreat was open to 

 him by way of Zanzibar. He has kept to- 

 gether a well-organized army of blacks and 

 aided in preserving peace and order, for which 

 services the inhabitants paid the taxes that 

 were necessary to support his command long 

 after they had thrown off the absolute author- 

 ity that he had exercised when the power and 

 prestige of the Khedive's Government stood 

 behind him ; and, when support was withheld, 

 he sustained his troops by means of a trade in 

 ivory through Uganda and by planting cotton. 

 In letters that from time to time reached Eu- 

 rope, he expressed the hope that Great Britain 

 would send an expedition to annex the rich 

 country that he had saved from anarchy. 

 When his position began to be precarious, 

 Henry M. Stanley started up the Congo with a 

 relief expedition that was fitted out under the 

 auspices of the British East African Associa- 

 tion, a rival to the similarly named German 

 organization. Tippoo Tib, an Arab slave- 

 dealer, who maintains a strong military organ- 

 ization in the region of the Upper Congo, 

 promised to assist the expedition. (See EMIN 

 PASHA.) 



On April 4 Emin Pasha received a message 

 from the Khalifa, ordering him to surrender 

 and to disband his troops. A few weeks later 

 his scouts on the Nile beyond Lado reported 

 that an army was approaching. Emin Pasha 

 then determined to advance with the bulk of 

 his troops in order to surprise the enemy, and 

 defeat him by a sudden blow, if possible, for 

 money and provisions were lacking for a reg- 

 ular campaign. The army sent against Emin 

 Pasha was said to be 4,000 strong, and to 

 be ascending the Nile in four steamers and 

 many boats. In the south, Kabrega, King of 

 Unyoro, had been beaten by the ferocious 

 young King of the Waganda, who now held 

 both shores of Albert Nyanza. Emin had 

 lived on nominally good terms with M'tesa, the 



